Kanisha
A feminine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "the youngest daughter".
Name Census estimates that about 2,485 living Americans carry the first name Kanisha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kanisha today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kanisha births was 1990 (293 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kanisha. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
2.5K
~ 1 in 137,929 Americans
Peak year
1990
293 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2024 SSA rank
#16,373
Tracked since 1971
Popularity
Kanisha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kanisha from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 1,292 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kanisha by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Kanisha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kanishas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. California, Illinois, Texas recorded the most babies named Kanisha, while Colorado, Oklahoma, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 60 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kanisha
The name Kanisha has its origins in the Sanskrit language, which is an ancient Indo-Aryan language that dates back to the 2nd millennium BCE. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word "kanishtha," which means "youngest" or "smallest." It is believed that the name was originally used to refer to the youngest child in a family.
In ancient Hindu texts and scriptures, such as the Vedas and the Upanishads, there are references to the concept of "kanishtha" as a term used to describe the youngest or smallest among a group. However, there are no specific mentions of the name Kanisha itself in these texts.
The earliest recorded use of the name Kanisha can be traced back to the 6th century CE, when it was used by a Hindu princess from the Gupta Empire in India. Another notable historical figure with the name Kanisha was a 10th-century Sanskrit scholar and grammarian from Kashmir.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Kanisha:
1. Kanisha Narayanan (born 1985), an Indian classical dancer and choreographer.
2. Kanisha Malara (born 1992), a Sri Lankan cricketer who played for the national women's team.
3. Kanisha Grayson (born 1980), an American author and motivational speaker.
4. Kanisha Kumari (1920-2002), an Indian freedom fighter and social activist.
5. Kanisha Arora (born 1988), an Indian fashion designer and entrepreneur.
While the name Kanisha has its roots in Sanskrit and Hindu culture, it has also been adopted by various other communities and cultures around the world, particularly in South Asia and the Indian diaspora.
People
Kanisha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kanisha as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kanisha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kanisha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,485 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kanisha going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 137,929 US residents.
Is Kanisha a common name?
We classify Kanisha as "Rare". It ranks above 94.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,603 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kanisha most popular?
The single biggest year for Kanisha was 1990, when 293 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kanisha is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Kanisha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kanisha in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.